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PCR identification of Trypanosoma lewisi, a common parasite of laboratory rats

Trypanosoma (Herpetosoma) lewisi is a trypanosome of the sub-genus Herpetosoma (Stercoraria section), parasite of rats (Rattus rattus and Rattus norvegicus) transmitted by fleas. T. lewisi has a stringent species specificity and cannot grow in other rodents such as mice. Rats are infected principall...

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Autores principales: Desquesnes, Marc, Ravel, Sophie, Cuny, Gérard
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2002
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC119323/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12234387
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1475-9292-1-2
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author Desquesnes, Marc
Ravel, Sophie
Cuny, Gérard
author_facet Desquesnes, Marc
Ravel, Sophie
Cuny, Gérard
author_sort Desquesnes, Marc
collection PubMed
description Trypanosoma (Herpetosoma) lewisi is a trypanosome of the sub-genus Herpetosoma (Stercoraria section), parasite of rats (Rattus rattus and Rattus norvegicus) transmitted by fleas. T. lewisi has a stringent species specificity and cannot grow in other rodents such as mice. Rats are infected principally by oral route, through contamination by flea faeces or ingestion of fleas. Trypanosoma lewisi infections in rat colonies can interfere with research protocols and fleas of wild rats are often the source of such infections. Currently, diagnosis of T. lewisi in rats is performed by microscopic observation of stained blood smears. In the course of a research project at CIRDES, a T. lewisi infection was detected in the rat colony. In this study we evaluated PCR primer sets for their ability to diagnose multiple species of trypanosomes with a single amplification. We show that the use of ITS1 sequence of ribosomal DNA provides an efficient and sensitive assay for detection and identification of T. lewisi infection in rats and recommend the use of this assay for monitoring of T. lewisi infections in rat colonies.
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spelling pubmed-1193232002-09-10 PCR identification of Trypanosoma lewisi, a common parasite of laboratory rats Desquesnes, Marc Ravel, Sophie Cuny, Gérard Kinetoplastid Biol Dis Original Research Trypanosoma (Herpetosoma) lewisi is a trypanosome of the sub-genus Herpetosoma (Stercoraria section), parasite of rats (Rattus rattus and Rattus norvegicus) transmitted by fleas. T. lewisi has a stringent species specificity and cannot grow in other rodents such as mice. Rats are infected principally by oral route, through contamination by flea faeces or ingestion of fleas. Trypanosoma lewisi infections in rat colonies can interfere with research protocols and fleas of wild rats are often the source of such infections. Currently, diagnosis of T. lewisi in rats is performed by microscopic observation of stained blood smears. In the course of a research project at CIRDES, a T. lewisi infection was detected in the rat colony. In this study we evaluated PCR primer sets for their ability to diagnose multiple species of trypanosomes with a single amplification. We show that the use of ITS1 sequence of ribosomal DNA provides an efficient and sensitive assay for detection and identification of T. lewisi infection in rats and recommend the use of this assay for monitoring of T. lewisi infections in rat colonies. BioMed Central 2002-05-29 /pmc/articles/PMC119323/ /pubmed/12234387 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1475-9292-1-2 Text en Copyright © 2002 Desquesnes et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article: verbatim copying and redistribution of this article are permitted in all media for any purpose, provided this notice is preserved along with the article's original URL.
spellingShingle Original Research
Desquesnes, Marc
Ravel, Sophie
Cuny, Gérard
PCR identification of Trypanosoma lewisi, a common parasite of laboratory rats
title PCR identification of Trypanosoma lewisi, a common parasite of laboratory rats
title_full PCR identification of Trypanosoma lewisi, a common parasite of laboratory rats
title_fullStr PCR identification of Trypanosoma lewisi, a common parasite of laboratory rats
title_full_unstemmed PCR identification of Trypanosoma lewisi, a common parasite of laboratory rats
title_short PCR identification of Trypanosoma lewisi, a common parasite of laboratory rats
title_sort pcr identification of trypanosoma lewisi, a common parasite of laboratory rats
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC119323/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12234387
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1475-9292-1-2
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